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Knowledge of Catalan. By levels of knowledge. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces

Knowledge of Catalan. By level of knowledge. Counties, areas and provinces 2011
Understand Speak Read Write Don't understand Population aged 2 years and over
Alt Camp 42,677 36,667 37,514 28,027 971 43,648
Alt Empordà 127,128 97,018 103,691 74,454 8,014 135,142
Alt Penedès 98,905 83,190 85,661 64,215 3,012 101,916
Alt Urgell 20,245 17,547 18,286 13,328 360 20,605
Alta Ribagorça 3,997 3,248 3,377 2,418 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available 4,032
Anoia 111,147 90,395 94,676 69,379 4,316 115,462
Bages 173,062 146,726 151,829 114,435 5,949 179,012
Baix Camp 176,508 139,197 147,335 108,874 9,623 186,131
Baix Ebre 77,044 64,438 64,923 45,543 2,568 79,612
Baix Empordà 121,682 97,255 101,989 75,972 7,089 128,771
Baix Llobregat 730,102 526,488 583,523 402,912 44,446 774,549
Baix Penedès 91,734 68,163 74,789 51,568 5,706 97,440
Barcelonès 2,058,268 1,487,946 1,653,636 1,092,694 129,239 2,187,508
Berguedà 39,162 35,326 35,520 27,125 656 39,818
Cerdanya 17,780 14,488 15,162 11,369 502 18,281
Conca de Barberà 20,030 17,624 17,913 14,020 410 20,440
Garraf 134,184 104,014 112,854 79,752 6,989 141,174
Garrigues 19,128 16,779 17,063 12,472 543 19,671
Garrotxa 51,676 45,137 45,573 34,735 1,966 53,642
Gironès 167,810 141,119 145,905 115,264 8,645 176,456
Maresme 404,957 326,496 344,353 252,721 15,116 420,074
Montsià 67,547 54,647 56,357 36,302 1,773 69,320
Noguera 37,555 31,766 32,248 23,548 1,208 38,764
Osona 144,623 126,351 127,992 103,804 4,607 149,229
Pallars Jussà 12,680 11,028 11,052 8,246 403 13,083
Pallars Sobirà 7,056 6,255 6,283 4,699 79 7,134
Pla d'Urgell 35,088 29,963 30,552 23,031 1,067 36,156
Pla de l'Estany 29,861 26,272 26,621 21,279 272 30,133
Priorat 9,532 8,619 8,626 6,598 181 9,713
Ribera d'Ebre 21,852 19,060 18,807 13,229 974 22,826
Ripollès 24,970 21,990 22,481 16,736 384 25,355
Segarra 21,009 16,973 17,647 13,379 1,532 22,541
Segrià 191,174 155,291 161,693 117,610 9,527 200,702
Selva 157,435 122,721 129,858 95,781 8,951 166,386
Solsonès 12,730 11,465 11,629 9,260 552 13,282
Tarragonès 230,102 170,457 189,786 130,007 13,491 243,593
Terra Alta 12,186 11,031 10,788 7,051 108 12,294
Urgell 34,834 29,772 30,182 23,321 1,008 35,842
Val d'Aran 8,719 6,138 7,105 4,562 932 9,651
Vallès Occidental 829,289 632,851 684,152 493,101 38,334 867,623
Vallès Oriental 373,874 293,573 310,919 226,398 15,189 389,063
Catalunya 6,949,344 5,345,484 5,750,348 4,069,219 356,728 7,306,072
Metropolità 4,396,490 3,267,354 3,576,583 2,467,826 242,325 4,638,815
Comarques Gironines 680,563 551,512 576,117 434,221 35,321 715,884
Camp de Tarragona 478,849 372,565 401,174 287,527 24,676 503,525
Terres de l'Ebre 178,629 149,177 150,874 102,126 5,423 184,052
Ponent 338,790 280,544 289,386 213,361 14,885 353,675
Comarques Centrals 369,577 319,868 326,970 254,624 11,764 381,342
Alt Pirineu i Aran 70,476 58,703 61,264 44,621 2,312 72,788
Penedès 435,970 345,761 367,979 264,913 20,022 455,992
Barcelona 5,097,395 3,852,980 4,184,851 2,926,178 267,892 5,365,286
Girona 694,660 562,826 587,975 443,144 35,701 730,362
Lleida 408,077 339,773 350,685 258,675 17,331 425,408
Tarragona 749,212 589,905 626,837 441,220 35,805 785,016
Units: Persons.
Source: Idescat. Population census 2011.
(..) Confidential data, low reliability or not available.

Last update: February 20, 2014.

CENSPH

These statistics have a specific section with all the information available: Population and Housing Census (CENSPH).

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Knowledge of Catalan
The data in these statistics correspond to the population of two years or more by knowledge of catalan. It is considered: A person «understands» Catalan if they are able to understand a conversation in Catalan on an everyday subject. A person «can read» Catalan if they are able to read everyday texts, such as announcements, newspapers, etc. A person «can speak» Catalan if they are able to maintain a conversation in Catalan on an everyday subject. A person «can write» Catalan if they are able to write notes, postcards, etc. sufficiently correctly, even if not totally correctly.

Methodological aspects

The information on knowledge of Catalan is taken from a treatment by Idescat of data from the Population and Housing Censuses produced by the INE.

Conducting censuses enables an extensive count of a territory's population and demographic, economic and social characteristics, which include those of a linguistic nature. Censuses provide us with data on the capacity to understand, speak, read and write Catalan. They also enable a systematic treatment of linguistic variables in relation with other census variables.

The census model used by the INE in producing for Spain the Population and Housing Censuses 2011 consists of an operation that combines use of administrative records with a sample-based survey and a count of buildings.

The availability of the Population Register as a consolidated population record has made it possible to produce a census of such a nature.

Therefore, the Population and Housing Censuses for 2011 are based on three core issues:

  • Pre-census file: consists of a list of the resident inhabitants of the country including the variables for sex, age, place of birth and nationality. It is based on the maximum use of the available administrative registers, using the Register as the starting point of its structure.
  • Survey: a sample-based survey to find out about the characteristics of people and housing. In Catalonia the effective sample was made up of 622,000 interviewees, representing 8.3% of the population. The data in the survey was obtained by various means: web, regular mail, a 900 telephone number and computer-assisted personal interviews. In Catalonia, the questionnaires were in Catalan and Spanish. In the case of the Val d'Aran, they were also in Occitan.
  • Building Census: a field operation covering the territory. The objectives are to list and geo-reference all buildings that have some estate therein that is a dwelling, to determine the characteristics of the buildings via a building questionnaire and to list all estates contained in each building.

So, unlike previous censuses, in which the whole of the resident population had to answer the census questionnaire, the data for the Linguistic Census 2011 was obtained from a survey addressed at a broad sample of the population.

This new methodology means that the information cannot be offered in such territorial detail as in previous traditional censuses.

The results of the Linguistic Census 2011 are taken from the answers by people aged two years and over to the question "What knowledge do you have of the Catalan language?" in this survey. They do not include people aged under two years because for this group it is not possible to consider, in the strictest sense, that they are able to comprehend any language.

Unavailable information is represented using the symbol ":". When the value is lower than that of the minimum unit to be able to estimate the statistical operation or if it effects statistical confidentiality, the symbol used is "..".